{ Anya }The day of my graduation comes and I'm extremely pregnant and miserable during the ceremony because I can feel a lot of curious eyes on me. This is the first 'public' appearance I've made in months, ever since the Alpha Presentation. Other than going to school, I don't go out at all. And even in school, I try my hardest to go unnoticed because I hate all the fucking questions. I hate the way people look at me. But I hate when they call me Luna Anya the most. They heard about our ‘separation’ but they don’t give a shit, they still view me as their Luna.When the principal calls my name, I get up and walk to the stage to grab my diploma, slowly but surely. Everyone cheers for me and I wave at them with a genuine smile for once because I feel a weight lifting off my shoulders. I'm done with school. Finally. These past few months have been borderline unbearable in every single way possible. Thank god that’s over now.Once the ceremony ends, I get up quickly from my seat before
February 14. My son decided he’s going to be a lover boy, so he's born on valentine's day. It’s not like I had something planned for that annoying day, so it works for me. It’s a lovely birthday, too. However, he’s way too enormous for my lady canal, so the doctors decided to give me an emergency c-section. The good thing about that was that I didn't suffer through the birth. I just suffered half an hour of pain before my uncle took me to the hospital and they made me go to sleep.Next thing I know, I have a big baby boy in my arms.I laugh in a drowsy way when I finally look at him. Somehow, he looks exactly how I pictured him in my mind. Huge, pale and chubby with very dark hair on his head. Super dark red hair, almost black, just like… his dad. To be honest, the only good thing about Jae are his looks, so I guess it’s not the end of the world if my son looks like him. "I love you," That's the first thing I say to him. In response, he starts crying and the nurse tells me I can b
{ Jae }My parents come out of the room and my mom has a lump on her arms. I'm still trying to catch my breath after running through the pack to get here because my car decided to die on me at the worst possible moment... maybe because I tried to cross the river with it yesterday. But in my defense, I was drunk.My mom walks until she's in front of me, looking at my face directly for the first time in months because she can hold a grudge like no other... well, there is someone else who's holding even more of a grudge, actually. Anya. "Be careful," my mom snaps at me before I even do anything, "I'll put him in your arms.""I've held babies before," I mumble. I would dare to be more snappy normally, but I'm too scared at the moment, "Just let go of him."She finally does, leaving the baby in my arms. I can't even see his face, so I hold him in one arm and move the blanket away from his face with my free hand so I can get a good look. Not that I had any kind of doubt, but this kid i
{ Anya }When I get the piece of paper with the names Jae wrote, I fold it and put it in my purse so I can read it I later because if I do it right now, I'll probably just get angry because... god, I really fucking hate him. Right now even more than usual. My resentment is at an all time high. I hate that he ruined everything we were building. I hate that he made my tender heart turn to stone and now I’ll never love anyone again. I hate that he robbed me of having a normal pregnancy and a normal birth. He should have been with me these past five months. He should be here right now.Of course, I know I'm the one preventing him of doing so, but it’s because HE almost fucking kills me and HE ruined my eye, so he can fuck off. He can choke on a dick for all I care, I never want to see his stupid face again. Okay, fine. I'm back to pretending I don't think about him anymore. "I'm obsessed with him," I murmur while I'm eating a sandwich like a starving animal, with my son still on my a
{ Jae }A couple of days after my son is born, I get a text from my mom with a bunch of pictures of him wearing a stupid yellow hat with a daisy in it. "His name is Tate Amari Kyung," my mom says. I nod as I read it a couple of times, I guess I like that name. I fucking hate the hat, though, it looks super dumb, "We'll go see him tomorrow, you can drive by Anya's house and we'll take him out to you.""Sure, just let me know the time," I text back, rolling my eyes at this ridiculous fucking situation. I shouldn't be treated like this. Anya should let everyone know I didn't really mean to hurt her. She has a right to be mad at me, of course, but this... me having to act like a rat in hiding because she refuses to let me close to her, is insane. "How is Anya doing, Alpha Jae?" Olivia asks all of a sudden, making me look up from my phone, "I thought she would be here.""Right, uhm," I pocket my phone looking at Philip's dumb looking wife. I was annoyed at first when I saw he brought
My mom walks out of the house carrying Tate when I pull up in the address she gave me, so I get out of the car and I walk to them, extending my arms to grab my son. Today he's wearing a blue onesie that says “momma's boy” in it and it makes me smile. Anya is such a corny girl."Hey, man," I say, lowering my nose to his dark hair so I can scent him. He makes a baby sound when I do that and opens his eyes to look at me. His eyes look light, unlike mine. Maybe he inherited his mom's grey eyes. "How have you been, son?" my mom asks as I’m looking at my son’s face, reminding me of her existence. I briefly lift my eyes to her and I have to stop my smile from appearing when I see her eyes studying my face and I realize she's ready to forgive me now. But I'm not a kid anymore, she can't just freeze me out for months whenever she's mad at me and then slowly start talking to me again until things return to normal."Good," I say with a shrug and return my attention to Tate without even trying
‘I only said yes to this shit so I can close this chapter of my life completely.’That's what I repeat to myself over and over as I'm walking to the restaurant, carrying Tate and getting ready to see Jae for the first time since that night when everything went to shit tremendously."Oh, she’s here. Anya! Heeey!" Olivia shrieks when I finally get to the front door and I see everyone waiting for me in the foyer of the restaurant. Olivia, Philip, and Jae start walking towards me as soon as they see me. Luckily, all I have to do to avoid Jae’s eyes is to not look up."Hey, baby, how are you?" he says as he gets to me, grabbing Tate from my arms and kissing my cheek, a little longer and wetter than necessary. My treacherous body gets warm and I can feel the beginning of butterflies, but I metaphorically kill all of them before they have a chance to make me feel something nice."Hi, babe," I force myself to sound normal and to let him grab Tate as if we're used to navigating our son togethe
"We were in a car accident a few months ago," Jae answers for me. And I let him, because my eye is still hurting and I can't see correctly anymore. My eye is blinded. I know it's only temporary, but I kind of start to freak out a little, "She hit her head and hurt her eye pretty bad... we don't like to talk about it.""Oh, no," Olivia says with a pitiful sound, "Anya, are you okay?""It just hurts a little because of the flash," I admit in a tiny voice, breathing in and out, in and out. I can't cry here, "I'll be fine.""Let's give her time to feel better," Philip says, stopping Olivia from whatever she was going to say. I appreciate that a lot, because I do like Olivia, but she's getting on my nerves. And I'm still freaking out because I can't see. "Anya, look at me," Jae says, still trying to get me to turn to him. I shake my head and just focus on my breathing, "Uhh... let's order, yeah? She just needs a little moment.""Yes. I'm so sorry, Anya," Olivia says, but thankfully, they
{ Epílogue }Six Years Later The day I hate the most is finally over. The third Alpha Challenge is done and, unsurprisingly, my man won. He fought for almost two hours against five very brave but very dumb competitors. He's once again, the Alpha of Ellington. And now we're back home, all safe and sound, so I can finally breathe. I guess you could say I am a little traumatized about what happened at the Challenge when Jae almost dies and lost his memory. Things are so, so different now."My daddy is the strongest," Iseul says, looking up at Jae with sparkling eyes because she loves her dad. She looks at him like he's the fucking sun."And you're the sweetest daughter alive," he says, finally picking her up even though I know he must be tired as hell. He kisses her chubby cheeks over and over, making her laugh in pure joy. Jae walks a few steps until he can sit his ass on the couch and he groans, "Where's your brother, huh?”"Still outside," Iseul says. And that's true, Tate never
I remember being told Anya sent me a 'good luck' little pastry and I thought, ‘damn she knows I don't like sweet treats, but I'll eat it anyway because I don't want her to get mad at me for not doing it’.Next thing I know, I can't even move my body correctly and my mind is all slow and slurry. I couldn't even move my mouth enough to fucking talk. "What happened after I went down?" I ask my father when I'm back in their house after being discharged. My memories are back into place, so now we're allowed to talk normally. My dad growls in anger."Anya ran to you," he starts, making me lift my eyebrows in complete shock, "She ran and shifted to attack Klein in wolf form, she got him real good actually. His arm got the worst of it, but she managed to bite his head, too. The council was going to let the Challenge continue, but Anya and Rogan figured out you ate that pastry thing, which you never fucking do. Also, Anya never sent anything. The fact that they figured it out so early was the
I shake my head. I don't know much about myself, but I do know I wouldn't do something like that."No," I say, the girl frowns and looks at me, then nods, "Nu-uh.""Yes.""No," I repeat, "There is no way.""Jae, I'm the only one in this room that remembers anything," she spits out at me, "I remember what happened, you don't.""But I'm me," I say and I point a finger to my head, "And I don't think I would do that.""You did," she says, clasping her hands into fists, "And I want you to say you’re sorry again.""Why? I don't even remember. I think you're lying to get my attention and get me horny for you again," I joke, making her eyes get red, so I relent. I take a deep breath, "I'm just joking.""I know you are fucking joking because I know you and your stupid jokes," she yells, "I know you! I remember everything. And you don't."She starts full blown crying then, so I force myself to take this seriously. And consider the fact that I... hurt her on purpose? For what reason? The only wa
{ Jae }It's been almost twenty four hours since I woke up after my fight and fortunately, some things are starting to make more sense, but I'm still struggling to remember 80% of things. I don't even remember my best friend, but it helps that he's here, forcing me to remember."Rogan," I close my eyes with stress, "I believe you, dude. I just don't remember.""Well, shut up and let me continue," he spits with a furrowed brow and opens his mouth as if he really wants to keep telling me our entire friendship story, from the very very beginning, when we were ten years old. This bastard really has a good memory, "We've only had one fight, back when we were in sophomore year, it was over a girl. I didn't actually like her that much but I..."The door opens slowly and I sigh in relief because someone is finally saving me from this storyteller. A head peeks in and I recognize her as the crying girl from yesterday, the one with long red hair."Anya," Rogan says, and he suddenly tenses up, lo
{ Anya }I leave Jae's room even though Vivian is telling me it's not necessary. I close the door behind me and cover my mouth to control my sobs, but I can't.No. No. No.I refuse to believe this is really happening to me. Jae has been in intensive care for two days while the swelling in his brain goes down from the fracture that idiot Klein gave him. I've been here with him, holding his hand and wishing with all my might that he'll be okay.I know he's going to be okay now. And I also know, logically, that it's completely normal to have trouble stringing thoughts together after such trauma. I know Jae could be back to normal in a few hours or a few days, once he gets better.But logic doesn't fix how I feel right this second. Jae looked at me and ignored me like I was nobody, then implied he didn't remember me. And then he talked to me that way... like he used to when I first met him.I can't do it again, I can't deal with Jae treating me like crap again. I won't, I refuse. I've l
"What's going on?!" I grumble once we're backstage, completely disoriented. When I see Jae being brought in on a damn portable stretcher, I run towards him."Luna Anya, please stay away," a paramedic tells me, holding me back. I'm about to tell him I'm a doctor and I have a right to see what the hell is happening with my mate, but Rogan grabs me from behind and pulls me away."This isn't normal. Jae didn't do anything to fight, that’s not him!" I say, but Rogan keeps restraining me and trying to quiet me down, "You can't let this happen, Ro. Something was wrong with him.”"Anya, Anya, please," Ro continues, "I know it's not normal, but you need to calm down first. I can't take care of you and find answers at the same time."That makes me calm down because he's right. I can't be another problem right now, I have to help."Okay, okay... what do you know?""Nothing. I was here with him when he arrived, while he was getting ready and before the fight began. Everything was perfectly normal
Before I realize it, the day finally arrives. The day of the Alpha Challenge.Jae has been more focused than ever on his training, so we haven’t had any more time to explore our relationship, but I’m not worried because I know it’s necessary and important… maybe not as much as our bond, but close. Because this is not just about his position and his future. It’s the future of our family, a future where the pack will bear our name.When I arrive with Tate and my aunt and uncle at the arena, Jae’s family is already in the family booth, so I greet everyone and then I have to go through the worst anxiety ever again, just like five years ago, except this time it’s even worse because Klein is not just another True Alpha who came to Ellington to try to fight Jae. Now it’s personal.Klein is my ex-boyfriend and he wants revenge for being ‘humiliated’ at the last Alpha Challenge. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. Or maybe it’s just worry because this time what I feel for J
"And because you're mine to use whenever I feel like it,” I continue, sucking on his bottom lip and making him let out a low growl from his chest. "We can't do this here," he whines, trying to take a step back, but I don't care. I follow him, "Baby, I mean it. I can't fuck you here with my parents and my son downstairs.""Why not?" I ask, running a hand down his chest until I reach his hard dick. I grab it through his pants tightly and pull, making him moan, "I know you want it.""Of course I fucking want it," he grunts, thrusting his hips against my hand for just a second before ripping my grip off his erection and flipping me over until my back is to him. Jae takes my hands and in just a second crosses them across my chest until he has me completely unable to move...at least my upper body, "Damn it, Anya. You don’t change. Don't you ever think with something other than your clit? We can't do this here. You can wait until we get home.""I can't," I moan, wiggling my ass against him,
When we all arrive at Vivian and Riku Kyung’s house together, I can see the surprise on both of their faces. I don’t think Jae told them I would be joining them for Sunday brunch.“Anya, darling, hi!” Vivian exclaims, coming over to give me a tight hug, which I return. I haven’t seen them since the news about our bond started circulating in the pack, so I’m not surprised when she holds onto me for longer than would seem normal, “I heard the news. About your bond… whatever decision you make regarding that, I want you to know that I am SO grateful to the Moon Goddess for choosing you as my son’s mate. You are such a wonderful girl, and I will never stop considering you part of my family.”I blink several times when my eyes start to sting, returning her hug with equal intensity.“Thank you for your words. I consider you part of my family too,” I let her know. When I let her go, Riku takes me into his arms.“There is no woman more perfect for my son. I hope he knows how to treat you as yo